DSL 2008 is running in high gear now! We’ve confirmed a location and a date for the LAN… August 1-3 2008 at the Croatian Cultural Center. We’ve been contacting mondo-sponsors, and the planning is moving quickly. As Tami says, she thrives on this sort of thing.? Since I missed out on DSL 2006 (advancearticle.jpg aldstar3.jpg llytimesjune27.jpg motusarticle.jpg), and was only here for weekends on DSL 2007, this is going to be a major event for me (here’s hoping it goes well).

I was given a unique opportunity for my birthday this year… I got to be one of the “heads” for the 2nd Annual Elans Awards show here in Vancouver, along with Tami and Mike. The show is put on by Jack and Holly, and Tami was essentially their right… sorry, left (Tami is left handed) hand for the event, Mike was given the title of “Security Head” (two days before the event), and I was the head of the Limo team, as well as doubling as security. As the night went on, it appeared that I was also the main contact point between the volunteers, and Tami (who was in direct contact with the Producers), and the near-constant chatter over my headset made it very hard to focus on what Seth Macfarlane was saying. But, we pulled through, and other than a few technical problems (which are bound to happen during a live show) things went very well. We will definitely be on the list for next years event as well (only hopefully it will have more planning involved in advance). I did take pictures, as did some of the other volunteers I worked with, and I will of course upload them as soon as I get the time to put them all together and clean a few of them up. It’s coming, I swear.

Home life is going well. Got my first root canal at the beginning of the month. That was an expensive yet enjoyable experience. Okay, I’m lying. The drugs were definitely enjoyable though, and made it easy to forget that there was even any pain to begin with. It’s nice to be able to finally get my teeth looked at and fixed up. It had been far too long, and as the dentist said, right now I’m looking to buy him a brand new car by the time he’s done in there. Whatever, as long as the owie goes away, and the pills flow freely. Yet another nice thing about being back in Canada… “Why yes, I would like to have a prescription for a bottle full of Tylenol 3’s… $9? I think I can cover that…”

I think Mike may have found his calling. He starts voice acting school on April 6th, and he’s now got a job DJing for an online radio station (who is looking to expand to XM Radio) called Bladeradio. He’s DJ Behemoth, and right now, broadcasts at around midnight… given his sleep schedule, he’s perfectly set for this time slot. He’s having a great time doing it, and has shown amazing responsibility with keeping to the schedule (”I’m so tired… but I go on in 2 hours, and still have to put some songs together… can’t sleep yet!!”). Bladeradio has actually signed on to be one of the sponsors to DSL, and Mike is set to broadcast live from the LAN… should be entertaining.

Overall, things are moving along very well, and I can’t wait to see what the Summer has to bring to our plans. If DSL goes well, we may finally be able to open our physical store here in town (once council clues in to the fact that we are NOT a bloody arcade), and things will really take off.

Next on the to-do list… find, purchase, and prepare a brand new (likely Dell) server, and figure out how to route 380 computers, 3-12 xBoxes, and 18 24-port switches through it. Can’t take more than 15 or 20 minutes, right? Anyone got a few thousand feet of Cat5e cable they don’t need?

 Birthdays.  I fail to see what the big deal is about them.  So you’re a year older.  All that really means is that you managed to survive one more year.  Mind you, personally that can be a great feat, given my history of "oops" experiences… but just the same, it’s only a day, the same as any other.  Right?

 So next month I turn 30.  Being a person who was rather amazed to survive to 20, 30 is probably some sort of big deal… or something.  Having never turned 30 before, I don’t exactly have anything I can compare it to.  I’m sure it’s important to some people when they experience the event, but personally it’s just not that big of a deal.

 How would I like to spend it?  Sleeping in, cuddled up to someone I love.  Really, that’s all I want for my birthday.  It kind of narrows down the list of who I can get a present like that from, doesn’t it?

 One would think that, after 30 years of existence, a person would be able to figure some things out.  But then again, if that was the case, we wouldn’t have the saying "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it".  Have I learned from my history?  I should hope that, at the very least, some of my mistakes will not be repeated.  I’m happy where I am now, and of course I would not be there without having made some mistakes in my past.  They are essentially what made me who I am, and I can live with that.

 So I get to spend this birthday doing something amazing.  The eLans are being held the day after I turn 30 (the second annual eLans), and I get to actually work backstage for it.  The chance to help run (even if on a micro-scale) a major Canadian Awards event, and meet some extremely talented and well-known people (like "Family Guy’s" Seth MacFarlane) is an amazing opportunity for me, and I think it’s a great way to ring in "number 30".  Of course, I’ll likely be too busy focusing on the awards show to even care that it’s my birthday.

 I must say though… it will be a very nice, and refreshing change to spend my birthday with someone I love and who loves me.  Might even be the start of a change, where I have something to look forward to with each passing year.

…….

 Or maybe I’m just getting old.

On a side-note, DigitalStormLan 2008 is running full-steam ahead.  We’re about to launch an entire series of new sites (which, of course, I will link to when they go live), and we have a number of potential locations scouted out for the LAN party, which will also be a qualifier for the World Cyber Games.  And, of course, with the completion of one headache, comes the onset of another.  Once DSL is completed for the year, we begin to kick our next project into gear… the opening of a physical location here in Aldergrove, to act as the new "Home Base" for Killanet Technology.  What is the base going to be?  We’ll be an Educational Media Outlet… a location where people can come in to learn things from the basics of computer control, to the more advanced fundamentals of Graphics design and animation, all the way up to game developement.  We plan on having several computer terminals available to the public during open hours, so that they may complete homework, research projects, check their email, or even just chat with friends.  There’s plans to have guest speakers and "teachers" come in from the multitude of Studios around Vancouver to show people how they do their magic, and there is even plans to go retail (seeing as we would need to be able to cover the lease somehow) and become one of the (hopefully) primary computer repair and supply locations in the area.

So yes, things are going very well, and I can see "30" as being a great year.  Assuming I survive that long.  20 was lucky… 30… well, you get the idea. 

Take care everyone, and talk with you soon.

- Me